Before the trend of slapping “Beta” at the end of your product’s title to entice onlookers and the like, corporations seemed to tag “2.0xxx8243; on the end to show advancement and improvement. But this new column is going to be a commentary on exactly how well this supposed “advanced” and “improved” 2.0 society is doing. And thankfully, there’s more than enough fuel for the fire.

But the Today show crew should be made to do without digital media as well (could THEY do their job without THEIR favored technological advance?), made to use real good ol' film like in the old days, or heck, even turn the technological clock back 125 years and be made to perform their job with only a wax recording or a hand illustration for their media. They'd all be out of their jobs.

I rely heavily on my BB and computer for my business, and without today's technology I would not be in the business I am. However, as with anything, rules of etiquette should prevail and have some modicum of good sense in its use. Likewise you can't abandon good rules of society.

For instance, I still make it a habit of hand-writing notes to clients and other people, as in thank-you notes, congratulation notes, etc., on an event like a birthday or death in the family. I feel that is much more personal and the recipient may very well value my message more so with it being hand-written in today's electronic e-mail age.

I would comment that the article (and indeed many other articles that cover the same ideas lately) is missing what I consider to be a key component with being wired: staying aware of the world around you.

I don't buy dead-tree newspapers -- I download RSS onto my handset and read the local and global news to stay in tune with what's going on. Whether it be the weather, the current political happenings for the 2008 election, or news about SF Muni missing it's target goal - I am connected to my physical surroundings in the virtual space. I feel this allows me to be a better citizen of my community, whereby I have discussions at work about such things for example.

Let's also consider knowledge connections - with my handset I can query the virtual world for information to help me in the physical space. Whether it be a looking up an address on a map, asking Wikipedia for detailed information to settle a discussion, or doing a quick online pricecheck to see if I'm about to pay fairly for an item - it's at my fingertips allowing me to make better informed decisions/purchases/etc.

Lastly I'd mention staying connected to your peers; it's nice to have an IM/email/SMS to complement a phonecall for meeting up with people. Sometimes an actual voice call is inappropriate (for whatever reason), but sending a quick note to meet up, get help, or just say hi can really help you stay in touch with the people around you.